Upgrade Notes (v8.8.0)

These notes cover what changes when you upgrade an existing installation to Interspire Email Marketer v8.8.0. Existing email-tracking behavior is preserved, but you should review the new tracking settings and regenerate any XML API tokens issued before 8.8.0.

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than v8.7.5, read Upgrade Notes (v8.7.5) as well — those items still apply.

Before You Upgrade

Back up your files and database. Always recommended.
Check server requirements. v8.8.0 requires PHP 8.3 or 8.4 (8.4 preferred) and MySQL 8.0+/MariaDB 10.x. See Server Requirements, and run check_iem.php to confirm.
Plan the schema upgrade. After you replace the application files, the database upgrade runs automatically the first time an administrator logs in. Do it during a quiet period.

Email Tracking Is Now a Mode v8.8.0

The pair of open/click tracking checkboxes is replaced by an Email tracking mode, chosen per campaign and inherited from account, user and list defaults. The five options are Off, Minimal (date only), Aggregate (anonymous), Individual (consented) and Individual.

After upgrading, review Settings → Email settings → Email tracking defaults, then any user and list defaults and campaign overrides. Existing users inherit the account default until you set a user-specific value. If you change a list to Individual (consented), review sends already scheduled for it; a scheduled send keeps the mode chosen when it was scheduled.

If you use Individual (consented), set your disclosure and purpose wording, review the policy for contacts without a recorded tracking choice, and add %%trackingpreferencelink%% to tracked emails. The link lets recipients change their tracking preference without unsubscribing. Leave Tracking Consent & Retention Cleanup enabled daily under Settings → Scheduled Tasks when using consent modes. It retries a withdrawal purge if the immediate deletion fails, even when no age-based retention window is set.

Aggregate (anonymous) requires a tracking key in the IEM configuration. Without it, Aggregate is not offered in the mode selector. Minimal (date only) stores a date against an individual contact; it is not anonymous campaign measurement.

The full reference is at Email Tracking Modes and Consent.

Stronger XML API Tokens v8.8.0

Regenerate every XML API token issued before 8.8.0 after upgrading, then update each integration with its new token. Tokens issued by earlier versions remain usable, so integrations need not stop during the upgrade, but their strength cannot be improved without regeneration. New tokens use a stronger random source.

To regenerate, go to Users, edit the user, and click Regenerate token. The new token is shown once, when it is generated, so copy it at that moment. It is live immediately; you do not need to save the user afterwards.

Custom Authentication File v8.8.0

This applies only if you use admin/com/custom/authentication.php. If you do not have that file, nothing here affects you.

Remove any gethostbyname() call from the file. Older documentation showed hostnames in the IP allowlists written as gethostbyname('vpn.example.com'). The file is read on every request, so that lookup ran on all of them, even with IP restrictions switched off, and a slow resolver held up the whole site. From v8.8.0 you write the hostname as a plain string, and it is resolved during login only when the matching _enabled flag is on.

// Before
'admin_allow_ip' => [gethostbyname('vpn.example.com')],

// After
'admin_allow_ip' => ['vpn.example.com'],

xmlapi_admin_only has a positively worded replacement. Whether regular users may use the XML API is now set with enable_xmlapi_for_users, matching enable_xmlapi beside it. The old key still works and you do not have to change it; if both are present, the new one wins.

'xmlapi_admin_only' => false,        // still honoured
'enable_xmlapi_for_users' => true,   // the same thing, said forwards

The full reference is at Custom Authentication Configuration.

A Built-In Image Manager v8.8.0

The third-party file manager is gone. Choosing an image in the editor now opens IEM’s own Image Manager, showing the images belonging to the campaign or template you are editing, with a toggle to your personal gallery. Uploading, renaming, deleting, sorting and paging all work within whichever of those you are viewing.

If you created campaigns or templates in v8.7.5, images you uploaded while editing them are picked up automatically and stay with the content they belong to when it is copied or deleted.

My Account and Logout now live under an Account menu on the right of the toolbar. Nothing else moved.